Hello,
After a brief hiatus the blog is back!
Having finished my Master’s thesis and defense, I was able to come home for the weekend, see the family and report on everything that I’ve seen.
The farm is so lush and green. The first thing mom did when I came home was show me around her flower garden.
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| Mom plants roses along the fence line |
It’s amazing how city life is so loud compared to life in the country. When I woke up in the morning, instead of hearing blaring car horns and sirens, I was greeted with sounds of the farm: birds calling to one another in the trees, the gentle lowing of cows in the pasture next to our house, and the slight hum of a distant tractor engine.
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| A view of the farm in May |
When I came downstairs, my dad handed me a cup of hot coffee, with a splash of Bailey’s for flavor. I sat out in one of the rockers on the front porch with mom and dad and watched a procession of road cyclists making their way down the road. I hope that while they were working on their pace, they slowed down just enough to see how beautiful the pecan trees were looking as they passed by our orchard out front.
Breakfast was served continental style on the mosaic table in the back porch looking out on the yard, partially obscured by a huge magnolia tree I practically ‘lived in’ as a little girl. Mom chides me if I try to sit on the side of the table where my back faces away from the scenery. She wants to make sure I can see the farm as I eat my breakfast.
My brother, Will, comes over and brings over his new dog, a German Sheppard named Duke. Duke is just a teenager, but he is already so big that if he jumped on me his front paws would reach my shoulders. I am sometimes nervous around big dogs, but not Duke. For his size, he is gentle, and reminds me of Clifford, the Big Red Dog books I read as a kid.
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| Jenny with Duke |
Even though it is Saturday, and most people have the day off, my brother and Jimmy, a neighbor of ours, have set out to cut hay in two of our fields. The hay will feed our cows through lean times and winter months when grass is scarce. Hay-cutting is dirty work and requires a lot of patience and skill. First, you have to know when the grass is long enough to be cut. Ours apparently wasn’t quite ready when my brother passed over it with the cutter for the first time.
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| Our haying equipment |
Jimmy, seeing my brother from the road, pulled over in his truck and yelled, “Yur doin’ it wrong!” This scenario I am sure will be repeated many times as my brother learns how to cut enough hay to feed the cows. Even though winter is far away, Will needs some 500 bales to feed all of our cows through the lean months.
In the afternoon, I took Duke and walked across the cow pasture over to the house where my grandparents live. We sat out in lawn chairs watching baby turkeys and chickens pecking at their food. My parents ordered the turkeys after some family friends asked us to raise them a pair for Thanksgiving. Turkey chicks apparently do not know how to feed themselves, so the grandparents are raising them in a pen along side a few baby chickens. The baby chickens have taught the turkeys to eat, drink, and fend for themselves.
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| Baby turkeys and chickens |
Small baby plants are also starting to peek out of the earth in Will’s garden. He has planted row upon row of tomatoes, bell peppers, green chilies from New Mexico, cucumbers, and various herbs and spices like cilantro and basil. He has also planted a row of sunflowers to add a little color to the landscape.
I already know my next trip home is going to coincide with the tomato harvest…
*Special Thanks to Russell O'Dillon Photography for some amazing pictures of the farm.
